Kamran Attaei v Nahid Alsharif & Ors
[2024] EWHC 2972 (KB)
Lowenthal v NHS Resolution
27 July 2023
[2023] EWHC 3560 (KB)
High Court
Someone sued a hospital trust for overpaying on a house sale, claiming a secret deal. The judge looked at emails and said there was no proof of a deal, so the lawsuit was thrown out.
Key Facts
- •Miss Lowenthal claimed NHS Resolution overpaid on a property sale, alleging a prior agreement to settle costs at £27,500 instead of the £50,000 Costs Order.
- •NHS Resolution applied to strike out the claim or grant summary judgment.
- •Miss Lowenthal cited vulnerability, leading to several adjournments.
- •Key evidence included email exchanges from December 2014, which the claimant argued demonstrated a concluded agreement.
- •A subsequent email in January 2015 suggested no agreement had been reached.
Legal Principles
A claim can be struck out if it discloses no reasonable grounds or is an abuse of court process (CPR 3.4(2)).
CPR 3.4(2)
Summary judgment can be granted if a claimant has no real prospect of success and there's no compelling reason for a trial (CPR 24.2).
CPR 24.2
The court should not conduct a mini-trial when assessing prospects of success; however, factual assertions must be analysed and cannot be taken at face value, especially if contradicted by evidence.
Lewison J in A C Ward & Sons [2009]
Outcomes
The claim was struck out.
The court found the claimant had no realistic prospect of success, as the email evidence did not support the existence of a concluded agreement to settle at £27,500. A subsequent email contradicted the claimant's assertion of a prior agreement.
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